AntiChrist - False Equivalency
John 5:19
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you; the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things."
Jesus replied to what?
He was responding to the reaction of "The Jews" in the temple who were grumbling about the fact the Jesus was healing people on the Sabbath. They were scheming to kill Jesus for this crime against their apostate religion. Now of course they didn't believe they were apostate, but Jesus was able to quickly dismiss their claims against him, and with authority. And that's really what's at issue here. The Jews saw Jesus as a violator of their religious rules, they had no real authority to feel that way because the Rabbinic doctrines and traditions they had developed was not the law of God. And so, it wasn't really a great task at all to assault their misapplication of the law of God. Jesus' greatest accomplishment was having the authority and the courage to make his claim. That being, he is God.
He says to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.”
He works whenever he works, sabbath or not, because he's working when his Father is working. And his Father is God. And God never stops working.
Does God rest?
Yes, he rests from his creative activities, but The Spirit of God that gives shape, form, and life to that creation never rests from His work. The triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and never not working. They cannot be restrained by any human doctrines, the phases of the sun and moon, or any traditional festivals. And they are not subject to the apostate laws of mankind. Jesus is asserting here that he is equal in nature to The Father.
Jesus then takes his claim to authority to the next level by making himself equal to The Father in his works. Some believe Jesus is not God but maybe something less, but that's not true, he is like the Father in both nature and in his works.
John 5:19-
“Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things."
The Father loves the Son and he gives to his Son the redemption of humanity. It's an infinite eternal love. The Son loves the Father and is willing to give sacrifice to achieve that redemption. They are coequal in that love.
John 5:21
"And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants."
So, here is Jesus saying these things to The Jews, and blowing their ever-loving minds. He's leaving no doubt that he claims to be divine in nature, in works, in authority, and in life. And the Jews know that whoever gives life is God, and equal in power to the Father, Jesus claims to have that life giving power, and has shown it to be the case. And he claims that he's been in possession of that power from eternity. He's not the agent for the Father's life-giving power, he's the source of it, and has always been. This is the fundamental reality of all realities. He is the giver of life. Equal in life giving power and equal in authority.
John 5:22
"The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son."
The Father has given him everything, all power, authority, and judgment. He's in perfect harmony with the Father. He's supreme in his ability and authority. He's equal in nature, in his works, in his authority, in his power, and in his truth.
John 5:24
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life."
Jesus is blowing the minds of these apostates with these claims to "the truth". They think he's a nobody, possibly a demon possessed agent of the Devil. And they want to destroy him. They have no regard for him other than their own personal hatred for the things he is saying. They think he's an insane demoniac. They believe they must put a stop to his teachings. And they're about to do all sorts of demonic evil deeds to accomplish that. They have no honor for him. And therein lies the issue with these men and all false priesthood systems of mankind that set themselves up as God's authoritarians. Jesus has clearly stated that he is the source of the power of God, he is equal to the Father in nature, works, power, authority, truth, and should be seen as equal in honor as well.
John 5:23b
"Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him."
To do anything else is to dishonor God. To attempt to set yourself and your "church" apart from the authority of Jesus Christ alone is to make of yourself into a false priesthood. If you are indulging in idolatry through the veneration of the dead in Christ; in graven images of Jesus' mother, in the Passion of Christ cosplay, you are an apostate church. This is the case because you are selling a false gospel of works, and piety. Like whitewashed tombs, as the Bible says. You are applying to the priesthood the authority that was given to Jesus alone. An authority that will need to develop many doctrines and traditions in order to survive the scrutiny of God's word. Just like The Jews had done in the time that Jesus walked the earth. This apostate authority will be compelled by necessity to put sacramental efficacy above the authority of Jesus Christ. They will replace The Holy Spirit with a few drops of water and incense. They'll lift up a piece of bread and drink wine to replace the risen Savior. And worse than anything else they lift up into authority a mere fallible man as Christ's earthly substitute. They take on too themselves all the marks of the AntiChrist by doing these things.
This has happened because they have traded their faithful hearing of Christ's voice for a temporal sense of divine intervention that they call, "The Church". And therefore, their doctrine is dead. Just as their priests and bishops die, their power and authority die with them. These Doctors-of-Divinity are no different than the priests of the Jewish temple who ignored Jesus' voice and crucified him on a Roman cross.
John 5:25
“Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."
And that priesthood has taken that authority to extremes that have caused the destruction of so many lives in wars, inquisitions, conflicts of every kind. Even as they have worked mighty wonders spreading the gospel throughout the world in missionary faith, the power and authority for their works was from these apostate men. Yes, God has worked through these abuses. God has accomplished great wonders in spite of their priestly pedophilia. Even though they have shamed Jesus Christ in their abandonment of sound doctrine. Even though they have created another gospel. Even though they've rejected salvation by faith alone in Christ, and have replaced it with rosary, penance, confession, adherence to the law of the mass and prayers offered up to the dead children of God, God has still worked through them. But the fact of the matter is they've rejected Christ's glory by replacing it with their own glory.
And believe me, if you press them, they will show you, their arrogance. But never mind their pride for Jesus has his own opinion about that.
And Jesus said:
John 5:41 “I do not accept glory from people"
We do not have righteousness that comes from the law but by faith in Christ's righteousness alone. God has declared us righteous in Christ, not through any human doctrines. It was the same when Jesus was facing off with the Jews who approached God through human merit and rejected his authority to give forgiveness of sin and everlasting life to those who have faith in him.
And Jesus said of them:
John 5:42
"but I know you—that you have no love for God within you."
He knows people. He knows their hearts. He knows that they believe they are infallible. Just as "The Church" today thinks it's infallible, beyond question, having all authority in and of themselves. And Jesus knows they have rejected him and replaced him with a man, an earthly "father".
John 5:43
"I have come in my Father’s name, and yet you don’t accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him."
And these substitutions for Jesus Christ call themselves "father", and give birth to generations of children who cannot hear the voice of Jesus and his Holy Spirit because they've substituted them in temporal sacramental elements. These apostate shepherds have led these sheep to the slaughter and robbed them of God's grace by taking his authority from him and putting that authority into the hands of men and in the veneration of idols. They put human effort in the place of grace. They chase the mother of God in order to convince her to intervene for them with the God they cannot hear.
John 5:44
"How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?"
The good news is, Jesus doesn't condemn these lost sheep. The bad news is they condemn themselves because they do not listen to the testimony of the scriptures that have spoken about the authority of Jesus Christ and his plan of grace and salvation.
John 5:45
"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses [the scriptures], on whom you have set your hope."
They have developed in the place and authority of the scriptures a system of human "cooperation", through the works of men. And because of these distractions they cannot hear the scriptures. The Roman Catholic Church has produced a doctrine in which they believe that mankind can produce his own salvation by doing good and doing church according to their traditional practices. And recently their Vicar has even gone so far to say that this same principle operates in every religion, even those that reject Jesus as Lord and God.
These "Church" beliefs do not come from scripture. They believe that scripture is not the supreme authority. Their councils have stated that their church does not draw their certainties about all holy truths by the scriptures alone, but by human "Church" tradition and scripture together. Just as The Jews had done in the time that Jesus had walked the earth.
They give themselves the authority to make their own laws and regulations for giving and receiving grace. They govern all the works of God. They distribute all the works of God. And they can remove the works of God by cursing all who deny their authority. Just as the Jews had done.
Did you know that papal authority, infallibility, was not voted in unanimously? In 1870 they voted several times until it finally passed. They needed it to become law so that they could rest all authority from the works of The Holy Spirit and the Word of God. You see, they didn't believe that the laity was in possession of God's grace. They needed to force conversion into their faith. The church believes the laity are just sons and daughters of the church, but The Church is the fountain of all grace. The laity cannot find grace by any other means.
Talk about job security.
And again, if you do not follow the traditional way of The Church, you are cursed. No matter how ecumenical they may seem...you're cursed.
At the end of the day, though they are a great work of Christ as a mission field, it is a false system; it has a false priesthood, a false source of revelation, and a falsely authorized manmade tradition and managerial system.
And as Charles Spurgeon has said,
“It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against this antichrist. And as to what antichrist is, no sane man ought to raise a question; if it be not the popery in the Church of Rome, there’s nothing in the world that can be called by that name.”
Friends,
We are a royal priesthood of all believers. Our faith in Christ is our righteousness founded in his righteousness alone, and therefore he alone is our redemption and salvation. No earthly man can curse that from us. And our authority as priests is not found in a seminary, it is found in and of God's Word.
Did you know that the Papal authority which was invented and reinvented under many different persons was purchased by these different people? Bought and sold, fought over, murdered over, destroying and falsely imprisoning people of faith. Just one of many examples, when Mary came into England and restored the Pope’s authority in England, three hundred Protestants were burned at the stake. That's a forced conversion by fear of pain and suffering. Making everyone subjects of that false priesthood, not subjects of Christ's kingdom. No humility. It's church worship. Relic worship. It's an organized idolatry. It's an illusion of God's grace and power. Like whitewashed tombs. Just like the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ.
May God bless you and keep you in your gift of faith in his Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
#JesusIsLord #FaithAlone #WordofGod